A Sweetheart Deal

Cynical governments, greedy corporates and paid mobs are invading our intellectual and cultural spaces in a pincer move, squeezing out all independent thought and creative action. Karnataka artists are fiercely opposing the state government move to hand over the official state art gallery in Bangalore to a corporate collector to rebuild and house his private museum.

A Sweetheart Deal and the Cultural Commons: Battle for Venkatappa Art Gallery

Eight months ago, the Karnataka Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) practically giving away the Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG), the official state gallery, to Tasveer Foundation, the family trust of Abhishek Poddar in a private-public partnership. Tasveer Foundation plans to build a new Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) to house Poddar’s collection on the site. When a colleague alerted us a month ago, there was an electric response and the artist community gathered in large numbers…